The total score for this examination is 100. The time allowed for this examination is 2 hours (120 minutes).

Part Ⅰ: Reading Comprehension (50 points)

Instructions:

? This part will take approximately 60 minutes.

? There are FIVE sections in this part.

Mark ALL your answers by blackening the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet, e.g. [A].

Section A Questions 1- 5 are based on this section. (10 points)

Directions: Read the following passage and choose the best answer from A, B, C and D. Blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Some people would say that the Englishman’s home has become his workshop. This is partly because the ordinary Englishman is deeply interested in working with his hands and partly because he feels that he must do for himself many household jobs for which some years ago he would have asked for workers’ help. The main reason for this is a financial one: the high cost of labour has meant that builders’ and decorators’ costs have reached a level which is too high for ordinary people. So, if they wish to keep their houses looking bright and smart, they have to do some of the repairing and decorating themselves. As a result, there has grown up the “Do-It-Yourself Movement” after World War II.

The “Do-It-Yourself Movement” began with home decorating but has since spread into a much wider field. Nowadays there seem to be very few things that cannot be made by the “do-it-yourself” method. A number of magazines and handbooks exist to show just how easy it is to build anything from a coffee table to a fifteen-foot sailing boat. You follow the simple directions step by step and, before you know where you are the finished article stands before you complete in every detail.

Unfortunately, it is not always quite as simple as it sounds! Many people have found that one cannot learn a skilled worker’s job overnight. How quickly one realizes, when doing it oneself, that a job which takes the skilled man an hour or so to complete takes him five or six at least. And there is the question of tools which cost money. It is not surprising then that many people have come to realize that the money of paying the workers to do the job is, in fact, less than “do it oneself ”.

1. An Englishman’s home has become a workshop because he __________________.

A. tries to work with his own hands to save some money

B. wants to have some physical training at home

C. wants to earn some money in his spare time by working at home

D. has some people work for him at home at the weekend

2. The word “financial”(Para.1) has something to do with ________________.

A. social position

B. house repair

C. decorating skills

D. money

3. The “Do-It-Yourself Movement”(Para.2) is _____________________.

A. an organization which helps women look for good jobs

B. a group of people who help each other

C. an activity many people now take part in

D. the name of a very popular magazine in Britain

4. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A. Before starting a repairing job, one must first study the methods for some time.

B. Some books tell people that it is not too difficult to build a small boat.

C. It needs both skills and tools to do a good job.

D. It is not as easy as some people think to make a coffee table.

5. From the passage, we can see that the writer _____________.

A. likes to have the jobs done by skilled workers

B. thinks it sometimes less costly to pay for others to do the job than do it ourselves

C. realizes that some people can learn a skilled worker’s job easily

D. is strongly against the “Do-It-Yourself Movement”

Section B Questions 6-10 are based on this section. (10 points)

Directions: Read the following passage and choose the best answer from A, B, C and D. Blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Few people can resist a bargain. But bargains are not always what they seem. Some sales and bargains are good deals, but not all are. Here are some pointers to help you tell the difference between real bargains and bad deals.

Sometimes a product is on sale for “below manufacturer’s cost”. Watch out for this kind of “bargain”. Why would anyone want to sell a product for less than it cost to make it? Before buying, you should find out why it is being sold at a loss to the manufacturer. Is it damaged? Is it out of style? Does it come with any guarantee?

Another pointer is to read price tags on sale items carefully. For example, a price tag in a store may say “regular price $ 16”. The regular price is the price of the item before the sales started and after the sale ends. The regular price is only for that store, however. In another store, the price could be lower.

A price tag may also say “ original price $ 16”. That means at one time the item sold for $16 —even as much as five years earlier! For example, the original price of pocket calculators was high when they were introduced. Now the price is much lower. Showing the original price would be misleading.

Finally, be careful how you use cents-off coupons. A coupon can save you money only if you intend to use the item. The price of an item may vary at different stores, so use the coupon at the store with the lowest price. Don’t forget to add any sales tax to the item before you figure out the “cents-off” price.

6. The purpose of the author to write this article is ____________.

A. to show that there are no real bargains

B. to warn the reader that some sales are not bargains

C. to sell a certain product

D. to warn the reader not to spend money on bargains

7. Which of these statements is an opinion?

A. Few people can resist a bargain.

B. A tax adds to the price of an item.

C. The regular price is the price before or after a sale.

D. The price of pocket calculators has dropped.

8. The author’s opinion of an item that sells below manufacturer’s cost is that _____.

A. it is out of style

B. it is always a good deal

C. it has no guarantee

D. there may be something wrong with the item

9. The author suggests that cents-off coupons should be used __________________.

A. only for items with no tax

B. for as many items as possible

C. in stores with the lowest prices

D. only at the largest store

10. The original price would be misleading in that ___________________________.

A. there might be a sharp drop in price of the item

B. there might be a sharp drop in quality of the item

C. there might be a sharp change in style of the item

D. there might be no use of the item now

Section C Questions 11-15 are based on this section. (10 points)

Directions: In this section, there is one passage followed by a total of five pieces of information marked 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in Column A. Match them with their correspondent parts marked A, B, C, D and E in Column B. Skim or scan the text as required and then blacken your answers on your answer sheet.

Intercontinental’s Best of China introduces some of China’s most beautiful sights in an easy-to-understand format. Our guide has two parts: the first section introduces China’s history and culture, and the second part consists of 35 articles grouped into seven geographic areas, China, North China, Northwest China, East China, Central China, Southwest China, South China – and cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei.

The articles consist of a destination guide followed by a practical information section. In the destination guide you’ll find up-to-date destination with cultural and historic overviews. Important sights are in bold allowing quick and easy reference. Chinese characters and “pinyin” are also included – if you need help finding a sight, just show the Chinese characters to a local and they will help you on your way. Underneath the article title is the names of local UNESCO World Heritage Sites and to the right of the title is the local area code.

The “Making Your Trip Easy” section gives all the practical information you’ll need to make your trip a success. Inside this section are useful travel tips, transportation information, hotel and restaurant listings, and food and souvenir information describing local specialties and goods. Next to some restaurant and hotel names is a number that can be found on the city map allowing for quick reference. Our “Best Of” list includes some of the more spectacular sights that shouldn’t be missed. At the end of the information section, we put a column for Other Information. We’ve included the phone numbers of information, complaint hotlines, postal information and hospitals with the address marked with a number. The information we’ve gathered represents the most up-to-date and accurate information available.

We’ve decided to keep some Chinese terms in our articles for convenience when communicating with the locals. Lu, Jie, Dao, Da Jie, Da Dao all mean road. And some roads include direction references, for example, Bei Da Jie is a street which is in the northern part of a city or a town. Bei means north. Dong is east, nan is south and xi is west. Shan means mountain as Tai Shan is Tai Mountain.

This guidebook is not meant to be read as a novel. It does not assume the reader needs to be coddled and protected from China. Rather, it contains snapshots of rewarding things to do in and around China’s most famous cities. Its compelling mix of cultural insights and practical information is designed to appeal to all readers, foreigners and Chinese, and to whet their appetite for travel in China.

11.

The part of the guide book you are supposed to read, if you want to visit Suzhou as a tourist and need some basic knowledge about the features of Chinese garden

A. Making Your Trip Easy

12. The part of the guide book where you can read the article Harbin’s Frozen Beauty

B. Other Information

13. The section in which you can find the telephone number and the address of Lao She Teahouse in

Beijing

C. the first part

14. The column you can get the necessary information if you are sick and cannot speak Chinese to find a hospital where the staff speak English and have foreign expatriate doctors that offer Western standards of healthcare

D. to the right of the title of an article introducing a place with cultural and historic overviews

15. The place where you can find the local area code

E. Northeast China

Section D Questions 16 - 20 are based on this section. (10 points)

Directions: Read the following passage and choose the best answer from A, B, C and D. Blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Education is an enormous and expensive part of American life. Its size is matched by its variety. Differences in American schools compared with those found in the majority of other countries lie in the fact that education here has long been intended for everyone—not just for a privileged elite. Schools are expected to meet the needs of every child, regardless of ability, and also the needs of society itself. This means that public schools offer more than academic subjects. It surprises many people when they come here to find high schools offering such courses as typing, sewing, radio repair, computer programming or driver training, along with traditional academic subjects such as mathematics, history, and languages. Students choose their curricula depending on their interests, future goals, and level of ability. The underlying goal of American education is to develop every child to the utmost of his or her own possibilities, and to give each one a sense of civic and community consciousness.

Schools have traditionally played an important role in creating national unity and “Americanizing” the millions of immigrants who have poured into this country from many different backgrounds and origins. Schools still play a large role in the community, especially in the small towns.

The approach to teaching may seem unfamiliar to many, not only because it is informal, but also because there is not much emphasis on learning facts. Instead, Americans try to teach their children to think for themselves and to develop their own intellectual and creative abilities. Students spend much time, learning how to use resource materials libraries, statistics and computers. Americans believe that if children are taught to reason well and to research well, they will be able to find whatever facts they need throughout the rest of their lives. Knowing how to solve problems is considered more important than the accumulation of facts.

This is America’s answer to the searching question that thoughtful parents all over the world are asking themselves in the fast-moving time: “How can one prepare today’s child for a tomorrow that one can neither predict nor understand?”

16. What is the underlying goal of American education?

A. To teach every learner practical skills.

B. To teach every learner rich facts.

C. To provide every student with the opportunity to fully develop his or her ability.

D. All of the above.

17. It is implied in the passage that in American high schools ____________________.

A. all the students are offered the same courses

B. all the students must take practical courses

C. teachers choose the courses for their students

D. the subjects each student takes may vary

18. American schools place great emphasis on the learner’s _____________________.

A. accumulation of facts

B. acquisition of creative abilities

C. the ability to memorize things

D. the ability to use time

19. According to the passage, American education meets the needs of __________________.

A. the bright students

B. the slow students

C. the immigrant students

D. all of the above

20. Which of the following best states the feature of American education that makes it different from the education in other countries?

A. The large number of its schools.

B. The variety of the courses offered in its schools.

C. Its special consideration given to immigrants.

D. Its underlying goal to develop every child’s abilities to the fullest extent.

Secton E Questions 21- 25 are based on this section. (10 points)

Directions: Read the following passage and choose the best answer from A, B, C and D. Blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

No matter who we are or where we live, no matter what our language or our culture is, we have many things in common with all other human beings. We can all feel the breeze on our skin, hear a child cry, enjoy the smell of the flowers, see the stars in the night sky, feel the pain of a knife cut on a finger, experience heat and cold, thirst and hunger and tense and relax our muscles. To use our computer image, we all have the same hardware, the same equipment. We all have similar eyes, ears, muscles and nerve endings that enable us to sense the world.

We can also all think and as a result of thinking, we all know that the physical world exists apart from our ability to sense it. We know that the moon exists even though we have never been there or talked to anyone who has been there. It may look like a shining flat round disk when we look at it, but others tell us that it is more like a round ball with rocks and soil. We believe them even though that is not what we see when we look at the moon. We know many things that we have not directly experienced and we accept the idea that others know these things too. There is a physical reality that is “out there” quite separate from our experience of it.

Our senses and the world beyond our bodies are physical realities that have nothing to do with culture, yet we interpret the information we receive from our senses and this process of interpretation is molded by culture. We interpret a flash of red colour as the rising sun or a sharp cry as a hungry baby. It is in our culture that we learn how to interpret our sensations. We learn what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

A European coming to China for the first time may think that everyone looks alike because he sees people with black hair and dark eyes everywhere. After a time, if the newcomer is paying attention, he or she will start to see differences in the blackness of hair. It is the same with the taste of food, the sound of voices and the sounds of music. For someone unfamiliar with Asia, at first all rice will just taste like rice. They may not notice differences in types and quality until someone points out their characteristics. In learning Chinese it is especially difficult for speakers of Western languages to hear the tones of Chinese words because words in their languages do not have tones. It is the same for a person from a tropical country who travels to the far north for the first time. He can only see “snow” until a native points out the differences among the various types of snow. In time he will learn to see, to feel and even smell different types of snow. As he walks, he can feel which type of snow is under his feet.

I hope these examples convince you that how we experience the world through our senses is molded by our home culture. One of the least recognized difficulties that people have when they move from a familiar to an unfamiliar culture is the difficulty in perceiving things as the local people do.

21. The main idea the author conveys in this article is that __________________________.

A. we humans have a lot in common in our ability to sense the world

B. a physical world does exist beyond our ability to sense it

C. our view of what the world looks like is shaped by our culture

D. it is difficult for speakers of Western languages to learn Chinese

22. “To use our computer image, we all have the same hardware, the same equipment.” This sentence means that ____________________________.

A. the senses of all humans function the same

B. we all use the same hardware and the same equipment in our computers

C. our computer image is the same

D. what our senses to us are what hardware to the computer

23. By “physical realities”, the author refers to ___________________________.

A. the physical world existing apart from our ability to sense it

B. our senses to see, to hear, to feel, to taste, and to smell, etc.

C. our ability to think and the result of our thinking

D. Both A and B

24. According to the author, our culture ______ the process of our interpretation of the world.

A. has nothing to do with

B. plays a decisive role in

C. learns how to interpret our sensations with

D. interprets a flash of red colour as the rising sun in

25. When people move from a familiar to an unfamiliar culture, the most difficult thing is ____.

A. they don’t know how difficult it is

B. they don’t recognize the difficulty at all

C. to do as the Romans do

D. to receive things the local people give to them

Part II: Vocabulary and Structure (30 points)

Instructions:

? This part will take 30 minutes.

? There are TWO sections in this part.

Mark ALL your answers by blackening the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet, e.g. [A].

Section A Questions 26- 35 are based on this section. (15 points)

Directions: Read the following sentences and choose the best answer from A, B, C and D. Blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

26. Her health has been affected, and may ________ altogether if the strain continues.

A. break down B. break off

C. break out D. break up

27. The police looked ________ the past record of the suspect.

A. in B. after C. into D. up to

28. There are several characteristics of the textbook _________attention.

A. worthwhile B. worth of C. worthy D. worthy of

29. It was difficult to guess what his __________ to the news would be.

A. reaction B. impression C. comment D. opinion

30. Some plants are very __________ to light; they prefer the shade.

A. sensible B. flexible C. objective D. sensitive

31. It was Tony who suggested _________ to the opera.

A. go B. to go C. that go D. going

32. _____ he arrives before I get back, please ask him to wait.

A. In the case of B. In case C. In case of D. In that case

33. His father is over sixty, but he looks as if he ________ only fifty.

A. were B. is C. will be D. has been

34. The professor could hardly find sufficient grounds __________ his arguments in favor of the new theory.

A. on which to base B. which to base on

C. to base on D. to be based on

35. _______I could speak several foreign languages!

A. If B. If possible C. If only D. If necessary

Section B Questions 36 - 45 are based on this section. (15 points)

Directions: Read the following passage and fill in each blank by choosing the best answer from A, B, C and D. Blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Hong Kong is one of the most cosmopolitan 36 in the world. A bustling business center, it retains its Chinese character in every corner and section of the city. Its land area, 37 adjoins the province of Guangdong, is 1078 square kilometers, to make up of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, including 235 outlying islands. The population is just over six million, 38 which 95 percent are Chinese. Cantonese is the most widely spoken Chinese dialect, though Mandarin, Shanghainese and 39 Chinese dialects are also spoken, along 40 the international commercial language of English.

A common sight in Hong Kong is the businessman or woman 41 on the street, or hurrying along the footpath, talking into a cellphone or mobile phone. The noise of the traffic and people 42 and buying is no barrier to people using these “street offices”. And in keeping with the territory’s constant mix of new and old, the modern cars that flash along the roads such as the large Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce limousines are complemented by the 43 traditional of trams, and the ferry boats 44 workers to and fro on a 45 ride across the harbor. The Star Ferry service has connected Hong Kong Island and Kowloon since 1898, while the electric tram system has been in place since 1904.

36.

A. city

B. cities

C. of city

D. in city

37.

A. which

B. it’s

C. whom

D. who

38.

A. by

B. in

C. on

D. of

39.

A. the other

B. other

C. another

D. others

40.

A. except

B. through

C. by

D. with

41.

A. stand

B. stood

C. to stand

D. standing

42.

A. sold

B. sell

C. selling

D. to sell

43.

A. most

B. much

C. most of

D. more

44.

A. carrying

B. to carry

C. carried

D. carry

45.

A. 15-minutes

B. 15-minute

C. 15-minute’s

D. 15-minute’

Part Ⅲ: Writing (20 points)

Instructions:

? This part will take 30 minutes.

? Your essay should be no less than 150 words.

Write your essay on the Answer Sheet.

Write an essay on the topic “The Importance of Physical Exercise” and you should base your essay on the outline below.